About the author

Stuart King came into socialist politics in the struggle against the Vietnam War in the late 1960s. He is an activist in the anti-cuts struggle in South London and one of the editors of the magazine Permanent Revolution.

Amendments to Platform proposal #1

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Section: The Anticapitalist Initiative

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The ACI is an initiative by a group of activists on the left that seeks to overcome political and sectarian divisions in our movement. In particular it attempts to address the division between the “old left” – which makes reference to Marxism, Leninism and Trotskyism – and the new libertarian left with its suspicions of party, hierarchy and even membership organisation.

The ACI is a network that enables anticapitalist activists to debate
current political issues. Where possible it is also a united front for action, locally and nationally, which aims to unite these activists in a fight against capitalism, for the interests of working people, the unemployed and the oppressed.

Section: Policies

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Over time the ACI aims to develop and discuss an action programme that addresses the current crisis of capitalism and to go on to develop our anticapitalist principles. In the process we hope to clarify and overcome differences and bring greater political unity to the ACI.

Nevertheless as the ACI we unite around the following policies and principles:

1. We oppose all austerity measures aimed at making working people, the “99%”, pay for the bosses’ crisis. We oppose all cuts and privatisation measures in the NHS, local government and other public services. We oppose all attacks on the welfare state – on disability benefits, against the unemployed – “workfare”, cuts in housing and other benefits.

2. We need a united anti-cuts struggle, one built from the bottom up, with active local groups linking trade unionists with local activists. And we need a democratic national co-ordination of the struggle, not a series of party controlled fronts.

3. As we have seen from the sell-out of the pensions struggle, the leadership and structure of the trade unions remains a block to real struggle against the coalitions austerity programme. We need to democratise our unions, with grassroots control of disputes and campaigns. We need rank and file control and a movement that can break the power of the trade union bureaucracy over our struggles.

4. We want to end the dictatorship of the rich over our economy, we are for a system that puts workers and local communities in political and economic control of society.

5. We fight against sexism, racism, homophobia and Islamophobia within society and within progressive movements. We oppose all social oppression whether on the grounds of race, sex, sexual orientation or disability/ability.

6. Organisations like the BNP and the EDL pose a real threat to minority communities and workers organisations. We support all struggles that mobilise communities to defend themselves against the violent attacks of the far-right. We have no illusions that state institutions or state bans can combat the fascists or far-right and do not support such policies.

7. We look to create a world without national borders or barriers to the free movement of workers, and oppose the division of peoples through the maintenance of racist immigration policies.

8. Runaway climate change through global warming poses one of the most dramatic threats to humanity. A market-based economy, where profit not environmental protection is the driving force, cannot save the planet from environmental destruction. Only an emergency plan to phase out fossil fuels, reduce energy waste and develop alternative forms of energy production has the possibility of preventing a climate change disaster.

9. We are internationalists and oppose all imperialist wars and armed interventions – Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya. We support the “Arab spring”, the democratic revolutions that overthrew dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. We support the ongoing struggle of the Syrian people for democracy against Assad dictatorship. But we are against imperialist attempts to intervene to influence and control these revolutions in their own interests.

10. We support the struggle of the Palestinians for their liberation and to exercise the right to return to their ancestral homeland. We oppose Israel’s ongoing occupation of Arab lands, their “apartheid wall”, and we support campaigns in favour of an economic and cultural boycott of the Israeli state.

11. We believe in the right of people to rebel and to defend themselves against attempts by capitalist states to crush resistance with violence.

12. We need to move beyond capitalism, and find a social and economic alternative to the present system.

13. We want to create a network of activists who agree with these policies and the direction of our organisation. If you want to build a radical left for the 21st century then join us.

Section: How we organise ourselves

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The ACI network organises locally in autonomous groups and nationally through regularly convened aggregates of members.

ACI supporting local groups, or individual members where there are no such groups locally, are entitled to submit resolutions, amendments etc to the national aggregates.

Members are those who support our policies (having of course the right to argue their disagreements inside and outside the ACI) work to build the ACI and its supporting groups and make a financial contribution as agreed nationally and locally to cover the costs of running the organisation.

National meetings will elect a co-ordination to organise national aggregates, oversee the production of any national publications, liaise with local groups and carry out any tasks given it by the aggregates. It has no powers of expulsion.

The national aggregates will also agree volunteer teams/workgroups to run various areas of work e.g. the website, student work etc as it sees fit.

Members of the ACI with minority viewpoints can publish their positions on the website or in relevant national publications. Signed articles will always represent views of individuals rather than the ACI network.